County's One-Sort Recycling Proposal Discussed at City Council Meeting

Single copy $1.00 Vol. 113 No. 1 • Thursday, December 26, 2013 • Silver Lake, MN 55381 Molly’s owner seeks licenses to sell alcohol; Council balks By Alyssa Schauer April with the state, instead of icy, which already includes li- Staff Writer at the first of the year, no mat- censing for liquor. Frank Koelfgen, owner of ter when you apply for the li- “I guess I have a hard time Molly’s Cafe, met with the cense,” Koelfgen said. giving out a liquor license Silver Lake City Council at its “To keep the license re- with a municipal and a Legion regular meeting Dec. 16 to newal on par with the city, one Club in town,” Bebo said. discuss options for serving and thing I would ask of the city is “It’s just something I selling alcohol at his establish- to waive that $250 for three thought about today. I added ment. months,” Koelfgen said. off-sale as more of a service to For a few years, Koelfgen He said he wanted to be able customers, but 3.2 beer has a said he has had a 3.2 beer li- to “get going” on the license stigma with people, and I cense for on-sale and off-sale, for the holiday season, but did- thought it’d be nice to have and last year, he applied for a n’t really want to spend $500, stuff on hand,” Koelfgen said. wine license, but never re- only to pay $500 again in three Bebo again questioned ceived it from the state of months to renew the license. Koelfgen on not receiving the Minnesota. “I’m not comfortable setting wine license from the state. “I paid $20 to the state for that precedent to pay nothing “I sent everything to the the application and $150 to the for three months,” Mayor state for the beer and wine li- city for the application. Today, Bruce Bebo said. censes, but all I received was I called the state and ask about Koelfgen also expressed in- a license for 3.2 off sale,” it, and he basically told me he terest in purchasing a hard Koelfgen said. couldn’t find any application liquor license for his business, “We sent all the paperwork from me,” Koelfgen said. which would cost about in to the state. I know they did- He said he is thinking about $2,500. n’t have nothing because we applying again, but his first re- “I don’t have that money up corresponded with them so quest to the city is to see if he front, but I propose giving 10 many times,” City Clerk can get the $150 refunded percent of the sales to the city, Kerry Venier added. since he never received a li- instead of paying a flat rate “At what point in time did cense. fee. Ten percent could be a big you give up working on this?” Koelfgen said he also is win for the city,” Koelfgen Councilor Eric Nelson asked. thinking about purchasing a said. “I’ve worked a few times “set-up” liquor consumption “You’d have to sell $25,000 with Kerry, but never really license to allow people to in liquor in one year before pressed for it until this time of bring their own wine and we’d break even with our li- year,” Koelfgen said. liquor into his restaurant. cense fee,” Bebo said. “I’m just wondering if you “I think about it this time of “I was just wondering if the did your due diligence in get- year, because with the holi- city would be open to using a ting this rectified when you’re days, I get a lot of requests percentage of sales structure asking us to give you that from people planning Christ- instead of flat rates,” Koelfgen $150 back,” Nelson said. mas parties if they can bring in said. “Probably not,” Koelfgen their own wine,” Koelfgen “So, if we did do that, and admitted. said. after three years, your liquor “Whose responsibility is it He added that he also has sales were working out, would to track down the license?” booked “a lot of live music” you still give us 10 percent of Bebo asked. lately, and he thought having a sales or just pay the fee?” “Honestly, I don’t know. In “set-up” license to allow peo- Councilor Pat Fogarty asked. this case, as far as due dili- ple to bring their own bottled “I don’t propose doing that gence goes, I think it was liquor. forever. Just one year to try it done. But we didn’t call them Silver Lake Leader photo by Alyssa Schauer “I think people have a out. I anticipate I would do every week looking for it,” stigma about 3.2 beer, and I better paying the $2,500 in the Venier said. A bittersweet Santa visit don’t really sell too much of future,” Koelfgen said. “How can we take the it,” Koelfgen said. “Wouldn’t you do better money if the state never sent a On Saturday, Santa and Mrs. Claus came Clauses, even after some consoling from He said a set-up liquor con- with a set-up license than license? If the state turns any- to the Silver Lake Legion for their annual Mrs. Claus. Santa’s visit was in conjunc- sumption license costs about liquor and tax? What happens body down, are they out of visit. Many children were eager to sit on tion with the annual Winterfest event, $500, with $250 going to the with your insurance?” Bebo that application money?” Santa’s lap to share their Christmas which offers horse-drawn sleigh rides, a state and $250 to the city. asked. wishes, and some even visited with Mrs. free meal the chance to meet reindeer, and “But the thing about that li- Koelfgen said his insurance License Claus. But little Novah Krzmarzick, above, raffle prizes. For more pictures, turn to cense is that it expires every company adds a fee to his pol- Turn to page 2 wasn’t so sure she wanted to visit with the page 4 and the back page. County’s one-sort recycling proposal discussed at City Council meeting By Alyssa Schauer formal presentation of the with it,” Nelson said. doing so, also. Staff Writer county’s plans to refit the Ma- He said there were about 50 “The county didn’t say ‘yea At its regular meeting Dec. terials Recovery Facility people at the meeting and or nay’ on any of it, but wanted 16, the Silver Lake City Coun- (MRF) to accommodate one- “only one person seemed in input from other cities and cil discussed the county’s re- sort recycling. favor” of expanding the MRF. townships,” Nelson said. cycling program and its Nelson said that he learned “Everyone else is kind of Mayor Bruce Bebo said the proposed plans for a one-sort the county would spend like, ‘if it’s not going to pay county is losing money in re- operation. around $2.8 million to $3.5 for itself, then why do it?’” cycling from a business sense, Councilor Eric Nelson at- million to expand the facility. Nelson said. “but as a service, it’s great. tended an open meeting about “But even though recycling He said that the county’s “For example, our pool county recycling on Thursday, is expected to increase using five-sort recycling decreased doesn’t make money, but oper- Dec. 5, where Robert Craggs, one-sort recycling, the profits when the city of Glencoe ating it is a service to our citi- a solid waste program man- would not pay for the opera- opted out of the program, and ager and consultant from tion of the facility. And the Nelson added he thinks the Council Burns and McDonnell, made a county still wants to go ahead county is afraid of other cities Turn to page 2 County Board may order final plans for one-sort retrofit at Tuesday meeting By Lori Copler solid dollars we need to make direction, since McLeod will take about six weeks to Staff Writer a decision,” said Nies. “If we County provides curbside re- develop a final plan and costs. The McLeod County Board vote to proceed (Tuesday), we cycling in each community ex- In a previous workshop, of Commissioners will decide have not locked ourselves in, cept Glencoe, which has its Craggs outlined a project that Tuesday if it will order final yet.” own contact for recycling, and will cost between $2.875 and plans for a retrofit of its recy- Nies likened the process to Biscay and Plato, which have $3.59 million to expand the cling facility to accommodate that which the county used for drop sites. Materials Recovery Facility one-sort recycling, it indicated its previous jail expansion “The indication from the (MRF) and add machinery to Silver Lake Leader photo by Alyssa Schauer at a workshop Monday morn- project, which it dropped once cities was clear … let’s look at sort the recyclable material. ing. final costs were in. one-sort,” said Nies. Commissioner Kermit Ter- Santa’s little helper Commissioner Sheldon Nies Nies also said the county has Robert Craggs of Burns & linden asked if the plan pro- Linnea Madson, above, donned in her Christmas best, indicated that there is a mis- not “rushed” into a decision. McDonnell, a consultant posed by Burns & McDonnell wasn’t too sure of Santa, either, but she seemed to appre- conception that the County “We’ve been looking at this working with the county on its would be big enough to ac- ciate her gift bag of peanuts, an apple and candy.

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